You have to start up your computer and load a Windows version. Double-click (or press the left button twice) on the icon labelled AutoCAD 2000. Alternatively, click the Start button on the window task bar. Choose Programs, choose AutoCAD 2000. Notice that your computer now loads the AutoCAD programme. After an opening screen is displayed, you see AutoCAD and the Startup dialogueue box.

Now choose the button labelled Start From Scratch.

Choose OK, and the dialogueue box disappears. You now see the drawing window. This window

SETTING UP A NEW DRAWING

A new drawing in AutoCAD is almost like a blank sheet of paper. Before starting to work on a new drawing, you should first set up standards. Drawing standards ensures that all drawings come out looking the same. The school you go to or the firm you work for, have established drafting standards. Drawing standards includes the type of measurement units to be used and the scale factors.

Once we have made the settings, we’re going to save it as a drawing file. Every time we start a new drawing, we’re going to open this drawing file and save it as an other drawing.

Setting the drawing Units
The first thing we have to set is the drawing units. We go to our menu and choose for Format. Then we’ll click on the command Units…

The first section in the dialogue box is titles Length. There are five selections for the Type of units, we’re going to choose for Decimal.

Decimal units are commonly used for metric units; decimal units are the default units (the units used in a new AutoCAD drawing, if no other units are selected). An example of decimal units is 36.99. Note the lack of unit notation, such as m (meter).

Now we should set the Precision for the coordinates and distances. This is done in the Precision section. We’re going to choose a precision of 0,0.

For the Angle type we’re going to choose for Decimal Degrees. This option instructs AutoCAD to display whole degrees as whole numbers and partial degrees as decimals such as 89.45689. Decimal degrees are the default units. Note the lack of units notation, such as ° (degrees).

After we have specified the angle format, set the Precision of the angle format. You can select up to eight decimal places for decimal degrees. Also here we’re going to choose a precision of 0,0.

After you have selected the units types, you can designate whether AutoCAD measures angles in a clockwise or counter clockwise direction. As you become familiar with the operation of some commands, you will better understand the effect of this setting. The default setting is counter clockwise. Check the clockwise box to measure angles clockwise.

Set the zero-angle direction by first selecting the Direction button. The resulting dialogue box appears as follows.

Setting the drawing limits
Setting the limits of your drawing allows you to determine the size of working area you need to draw in. This can be helpful because the area needed to construct different types of drawings can be dramatically different. For example, a grid map showing an area of a city and the detail section of a watch each require different limits.

To set the limits, choose Drawing Limits from the Format drop-down menu.
The Limits command does not have a dialogue box; the sequence is shown at the command line:
Command: ‘_limits

Reset Model space limits:

Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.0000,0.0000>:

Specify upper right corner <420.0000,297.0000>:

Working with layers
Traditional drafting techniques often include a method of drawing called overlay drafting. This consists of sheets of transparent drafting media that are overlaid so the drawing below shows through the top sheet. Items placed on the top sheet line up with the drawing below. Both sheets are blueprinted together, resulting in a print that shows the work on both sheets.

The bottom sheet is typically referred to as the base drawing. Each additional sheet is used to put different items on it.

As an example: if you draw a set of floor plans, you have to prepare a separate drawing for the to-be-removed plan, the plumbing plan, the electrical plan, and so forth. Since most of your drawing time is spent redrawing the floor plan, you spend a great deal of time doing repetitive tasks. The floor plan can be thought of as the base drawing, with each discipline, such as electrical and plumbing, put on overlay sheets.

AutoCAD provides capabilities that eliminate the repetition in redrawing the base drawing. You can use drawing layers to put different parts of your drawings on them.

You can think of layers as transparent sheets of glass that are stacked on top of each other. You can draw on each layer and see through all the layers so that all the work appears as though it were on one drawing.
AutoCAD goes one step further. You can turn on or off each layer so that it is either visible or invisible.

Using the layer command.
You use the Layer command to manipulate the layers in your drawing. Let’s look at the Layer Properties Manager dialogue box. There are four ways to display the dialogue box. Here you’ll see three of them.

Let’s look at the methods used to manipulate layers with the dialogue box.

Create a New Layer
To create a new layer choose the New button. AutoCAD creates a new layer with the default name of “Layer1”. The layer is turned on, is coloured white, and has the continuous line type. To rename the layer to something more meaningful, click Layer1 twice and then edit the name.

Deleting a layer
AutoCAD lets you delete only empty layers. Layer O, Defpoints and externally referenced layers cannot be deleted. Select one more layer and choose Delete. If the layer cannot be erased, AutoCAD displays the following dialogue box:

Turning Layers On or Off
To turn one or more layers on or off first highlight the target layer(s) by clicking on the layer name and then choose the light bulb icon. The “on” column will immediately reflect the change. If a layer is on, the light bulb will be yellow. If off, the light bulb will be blue.

Freezing and Thawing Layers
To freeze or thaw one or more layers, highlight the target layer(s), then choose the sun or snowflake icon. A frozen layer is indicated by a snowflake. A non-frozen or thawed layer is indicated by a sun in the Freeze in All Viewpoints column.

Locking and Unlocking Layers
To lock or unlock layers select the target layer(s) and then choose the padlock icons in the Lock column. A layer that not is locked shows, an open padlock.

Setting the Layer Color
To set the layer colour, first select the layer(s) to be modified, then choose the colour name, such as Green.

Setting the Layer Linetype
You set the line type for all the objects residing on a layer. First select the layer(s) which you wish to set a line type for, and then choose the line type, such as Continuous, Hidden2, …

The dialogue box displays the line types that have been loaded. Select a line type and choose OK. (To load more line types, choose the Load button.)

Setting the layer Lineweight
You set the line weight for all the objects residing on a layer. First, select the layer(s) which you wish to set a line weight for, and then choose the line weight, such as Default.

The dialogue box displays the line weights that are available. Select a line weight and choose OK.
Setting Dimension styles
AutoCAD’s dimension variables are set through a dialogue box. To see The Dimension Style Manager dialogue box either type DDim on the command line, select Style from the Dimension menu or select Dimension Style from the Format menu.

The current Dimstyle is ISO-25, this is also the default dimstyle. You can make your own dimstyle to click on the New… button then you’ll get an exact copy of ISO-25. Give the New Dimension Style a name and choose for Continue.

Now click on the new Dimstyle en then click on the Set Current button.

The Modify and Override buttons lead you to a group of tabbed dialogue boxes that allow you to change the settings of dimension variables.

CREATING THE DRAWING

Now that we know how to set up a drawing, let’s jump in and start drawing right now. We will be using some basic drawing commands, modes, and assistance. They are:

Line: Draws line segments.

Construction Line: Creates an infinite line.

Multiline: Draw multiple, parallel lines.

Polyline: Draws polylines and arcs.

Polygon: Draws regular polygons from 3 to 1.024 sides.

Rectangle: Draws a rectangular polyline.

Arc: Constructs an arc by eleven methods.

Circle: Draws a circle by several different methods.

Spline: Draws a NURBS (non-uniform rational Bezier spline) curve.

Ellipse: Draws ellipses and elliptical arcs, as well as isometric circles.

Point: Constructs a point object.

Hatch: Applies crosshatch patterns to closed objects.

Multiline Text: Places paragraph text within a boundary.

Divide: Places a specified number of points or blocks along an object.